CONTENTS
What is CCTV?..................................................... History of CCTV................................................... Survey Question 1................................................ Big Brother Society............................................... Self-Righteous Machines...................................... CCTV in Perspective........................................... CCTV from Both Angles..................................... Survey Question II................................................ God is Not The Only One.................................. CCTV Infographic................................................. Rules of Identification.......................................... Southampton Central Train Station.................. Mapping CCTV......................................................
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Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly transmitted, though it may employ point to point (P2P), point to multipoint, or mesh wireless links. Though almost all video cameras fit this definition, the term is most often applied to those used for surveillance in areas that may need monitoring such as banks, casinos, airports, military installations, and convenience stores.Videotelephony is seldom called “CCTV” but the use of video in distance education, where it is an important tool, is often so called.
closed circuit television
In industrial plants, CCTV equipment may be used to observe parts of a process from a central control room, for example when the environment is not suitable for humans. CCTV systems may operate continuously or only as required to monitor a particular event. A more advanced form of CCTV, utilizing Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), provides recording for possibly many years, with a variety of quality and performance options and extra features (such as motion-detection and email alerts). More recently, decentralized IP-based CCTV cameras, some equipped with megapixel sensors, support recording directly to networkattached storage devices, or internal flash for completely stand-alone operation. Surveillance of the public using CCTV is particularly common in many areas around the world including the United Kingdom, where there are reportedly more cameras per person than in any other country in the world. There and elsewhere, its increasing use has triggered a debate about security versus privacy.
People watching
us like we’re lab rats
history hi
1913 Surreptious photography of imprisoned suffragettes begins. 1949 Publication of George Orwell’s 1984, which is set in London. 1960 Metropolitan Police use tw temporary cameras in Trafalgar Square to monitor “Guy Fawkes Day” activity. 1961 Installtion of video surveillance system at a London Transport train station. 1964 been vandalized. 1967 Photoscan (business) markets video surveillance systems to retail outlets as a means of deterring and catching shoplifters. October 1968 Me Grosvenor Square, Whitehall and Parliament Square. Total number of cameras nationally: 67. 1974 systems at soccer matches begins. 1984 Installation of surveillance cameras at major rallying points for public protest in central London. Picketers surveilled during m systems at parking garages owned by local authorities begins. 1988 Installation of video surveillance systems at “council estates” run by local authorities. 1989 Civil r major northern city). The system in Newcastle is closed-circuit television (CCTV) that uses microwaves (an open circuit) to link to the city’s main police station. 1992 1994
three-quarters of total crime prevention budget. August 1996 All of England’s major cities except Leeds have video surveillance systems in their city centers. 10 Ma surveillance camera system that automatically reads, recognizes and tracks automobiles by their license plates. October 1998 Use of face recognition software in th
ryistory
wo temporary cameras in Trafalgar Square to monitor crowds attracted to the arrival of the Thai royal family. 5 November 1960 Metropolitan Police use two Liverpool police experiment with four covert CCTV cameras in the city’s center. 1965 British Railways installs cameras to watch tracks near Dagenham that had tropolitan Police use temporary cameras in Grosvenor Square to monitor anto-Vietnam War demonstrators. 1969 Metropolitan Police install permanent cameras in 1975 Installation of video surveillance system in four London Underground train stations. 1975 Use of video surveillance iners’ strike. August 1985 Installation of street-based video surveillance system in Bournemouth, a south coast seaside resort. 1987 Use of video surveillance ights group Liberty publishes Who’s watching you? video surveillance in public places. 1992 Installation of street-based video surveillance system in Newcastle (a 2 Use of speed cameras and red-light enforcement cameras on the national road network begins. August 1993 Bombing of Bishopsgate in London by the IRA leads
July 1994 Use of covert video surveillance systems at automatic teller machines (ATMs) begins. 1996 Government spending on CCTV accounts for more than ay 1997 Public demonstration against surveillance cameras in Brighton, organized by South Downs Earth First. July 1997 London police announce installation of e London Borough of Newham begins.
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Big brother society
Big Brother is a fictional character in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He is the enigmatic dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state taken to its utmost logical consequence – where the ruling Party wields total power for its own sake over the inhabitants. In the society that Orwell describes, everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase “Big Brother is watching you”, which is the core “truth” of the propaganda system in this state. Since the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the term “Big Brother” has entered the lexicon as a synonym for abuse of government power, particularly in respect to civil liberties, often specifically related to mass surveillance.
There is
always someone watching you
SELF-RIGHTEO ALL OVER
Q U I E T LY US
F RO
OUS MACHINES
Y
W AT C H I N G
OM THE
SKIES
This photo is made up of two photos taken at each view point of the 180ÂŞ CCTV camera featured in the previous page.
TRIM
go the o w
In the past people didn’t mis
od is not only one watching over us.
sbehave because they thought God was watching them. Today we’ve replaced an all-seeing God with the glassy eye of the camera.
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facts figures
although cctv Has its place,
A comparison of the number of cameras in each London borough with the proportion of crimes solved there found that police are no more likely to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras than in those with hardly any.
it is not the only solution in preventing or detecting crime.
Rules of identification
A public space CCTV camera records people walking down the street and going about their ordinary business. Where nothing untoward has occurred, this can be released without editing out third party images. Images show the individual who has made the request with a group of friends, waving at a camera in the town centre. There is little expectation of privacy and the person making the request already knows their friends were there. It is likely to be fair to release the image to the requester without editing out the faces of their friends.
Images show a waiting room in a doctor’s surgery. Individuals have a high expectation of privacy and confidentiality. Images of third parties should be redacted (blurred or removed) before release.
train station interview + train photo
I visited my local train station (Southampton Central) and was able to speak to the station manager, unfortunately I was not able to take any photography. There are a total of 170 stations which ar epart of the South West Trains company, altogether having thousands of cameras. The station uses a Stand Alone CCTV system with an estimated 40 cameras spread around the station. All footage from South West Trains are integrated with the head station, Waterloo. Once all the footage is at Waterloo it is kept on a digital database for 30 days then it is deleted. To obtain any of this footage an application form is required. Accessing this footage is very strict as to who is allowed to apply. I asked to fill in a form but was told by the station manager that I did not have a good enough reason. A copy of the form is featured on the following page. There is one camera placed on eithr end of each carriage of a train and all footage these cameras take are stored on an on-board train system which is also integrated with the system at Waterloo. The future is seeing newer trains using a camera on the outside of each carriage which is controlled by the train driver, this is mainly used so that the driver can see when it is safe to open and close the carriage doors. This essentially eliminates any need to have any train guards. To conclude the interview, I asked the station manager what CCTV means to him. In responce to this question i was told that he thinks that cameras are a positive thing, they are a very good deterrent which positivly resolves a lot of ambiguities and that dummy cameras are a big waste of time.
SOUTH WEST TRAINS
,,
a useful
deterrent
CCTV Journey infographic
This infographic shows my journey from Harborough Road to Mayfield Road. On the journey I photographed every cctv camera that caught me. I then mapped out my route and placed a designed icon to represent each type of camera that saw me. My results came as a shock as I had been seen by 64 different cameras, 2 of which were on a christian church and 1 was on a van outside a bank collecting money. I asked what people thought of this, and all were suprised and horrified by the cameras found on the church. “I thought the idea of religion was that your god protects you, where is the faith?�
,,
I thought the idea of religion was that
your god protects you. where is the faith?
Based on this:
You are seen by a camera every 52.6 seconds, You are seen by 1,642.5 cameras in a day, You are seen by 11,498.09 cameras in a week, You are seen by 45,992.3 cameras a month, You are seen by 551,908.7 cameras a year.
Based on the Average Life Expectancy provided by Wikipedia:
The average male will be seen by 43,600,787.3 cameras in a lifetime. The average female will be seen by 44,980,502 cameras in a lifetime.
SOURCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-circuit_ television................................................................... http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t= 28977&p=179414.................................................... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_ (Nineteen_Eighty-Four) ....................................... http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ ls84zy4llP1qln2e2o1_500.png.............................. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-circuit_
television................................................................... http://www.rapson.co.uk/cctvsigns/cctv-facts. html............................................................................ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8159141.stm...... http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/tens-ofthousands-of-cctv-cameras-yet-80-of-crimeunsolved-6684359.html.........................................